Technology giants in flap over gift envelopes

In the old days, children had to kneel down to receive their cash-filled red envelopes from elder family members during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

But today, receiving or sending a money gift is just a tap away after the launch of virtual red envelope services by Internet giants.

Spring Festival is still a fortnight away but Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd have declared war in their efforts to capture a share of the new market, which essentially boils down to taking payments over the Internet, increasingly on mobile devices.